“The gospel sounds different in prison.”
Eden Alumn Paul Witmer ‘89 today serves as the pastor at Women at the Well, the only prison congregation at the only women’s prison in Iowa. United Methodist in name and ecumenical in practice, Women at the Well gives incarcerated women voice, choice, and dignity.
Six years after graduating from Eden, Witmer started an open and affirming church in small town Iowa, which was cutting-edge in 1997. Later, he stumbled upon a position at Women at the Well, where he found his true vocation: supporting women in prison and their re-entry process. Witmer has been serving as the lead pastor at Women at the Well since 2021.
Women at the Well focuses on getting to know its congregation members as people and helping them heal, often from significant trauma. Many of the women in the congregation have survived trauma and/or substance abuse, or have a mental health diagnosis. However, with spiritual leadership and community, they are able to rebuild their lives.
Take Lucinda, who served a 17-year sentence before being released in her 40s. Lucinda participated in Women at the Well’s re-entry program and for her first year out of prison, she met weekly with a re-entry team of volunteer church leaders and laypeople. With this support, Lucinda graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from University of Northern Iowa a few years after her release, and now has been hired back to support the women at Women at the Well.
For Paul’s part, Women at the Well’s impact goes both ways: “I thought I was going there to be Jesus for these women, but I’m not there to be Jesus, I’m there to see Jesus. Saying to the women, “your sins are forgiven,” and seeing tears in their faces – I don’t think I realized what I was saying until I said it in prison.”
Prison Congregations of America (PCA) is a movement that brings churches to prisons, not to preach, but to provide a space for choice and spiritual discernment. Participating in church is one of the only things people who are incarcerated have control over in their lives. Witmer didn’t know about PCA as a younger preacher, but he encourages students to explore this option now. Learn more at https://www.prisoncongregations.org/
Photos courtesy of Paul Witmer.
